In this paper we examine the
N-photon absorption properties of maximally path-entangled number states (
N00N states). We consider two cases. The first involves the
N-photon absorption properties of the ideal
N00N state, one that does not include spectral information. We study how the
N-photon absorption probability of this state scales with
N, confirming results presented by others in a previous paper by a different method. We compare this to the absorption probability of various other states. The second case is that of two-photon absorption for an
N=2 N00N state generated from a type-II spontaneous down-conversion event. In this situation we find that the absorption probability is both better than analogous coherent light (due to frequency entanglement) and highly dependent on the optical setup. We show that the poor production rates of quantum states of light may be partially mitigated by adjusting the spectral parameters to improve their two-photon absorption rates. This work has application to quantum imaging, particularly quantum lithography, where the
N-photon absorbing process in the lithographic resist must be optimized for practical applications.
We propose a method for preparing maximal path entanglement with a definite photon-number N, larger than two, using projective measurements. In contrast with the previously known schemes, our method uses only linear optics. Specifically, we exhibit a way of generating four-photon, path-entangled states of the form
∣4,0〉+∣0,4〉, using only four beam splitters and two detectors. These states are of major interest as a resource for quantum interferometric sensors as well as for optical quantum lithography and quantum holography.
In this paper we examine the N-photon absorption properties of "N00N" states, a subclass of path entangled number states. We consider two cases. The first involves the N-photon absorption properties of the ideal N00N state, one that does not include spectral information. We study how the N-photon absorption probability of this state scales with N. We compare this to the absorption probability of various other states. The second case is that of two-photon absorption for an N = 2 N00N state generated from a type II spontaneous down conversion event. In this situation we find that the absorption probability is both better than analogous coherent light (due to frequency entanglement) and highly dependent on the optical setup. We show that the poor production rates of quantum states of light may be partially mitigated by adjusting the spectral parameters to improve their two-photon absorption rates. This work has application to quantum imaging, particularly quantum lithography, where the N-photon absorbing process in the lithographic resist must be optimized for practical applications.